The Hebrews in Slavery

Exodus 1:7-14

THE circumstances which led up to the Exodus were further manifestations of the Lord’s overruling providences in the lives of his people. Sometimes we are able to rejoice in the sunshine of his smile, but often he hides his face behind the storm clouds of life, and we can only watch and wait while we endeavor to learn what new lesson he has for us, or what unseen objective he is working out in our lives.

Joseph had died, and so had his brethren. A total of “seventy souls” had come down into Egypt by the invitation of Pharaoh, and now all these had died. A new Pharaoh was on the throne, one “who knew not Joseph,” hence had no respect for his people and felt under no obligation to them. All he knew or cared was that these foreigners were increasing rapidly in number, and as he saw it, would eventually become a threat to the security of the nation. He wanted them to remain in the country and serve as slaves, but he also wanted to keep their number limited.

His first plan was to put task-masters over the children of Israel and thus keep them exceedingly busy at hard labor. He supposed that this would tend to hinder their further rapid increase in number, but it had the opposite effect. The harder they worked the faster they multiplied. Then the king issued orders that all the male children should be slain at birth. The mid-wives were given the responsibility to see that this order was carried out. But they failed to co-operate. When the king asked why, they explained that they always arrived too late. Then he issued orders that the male children all be thrown into the river and drowned. This edict also was disobeyed.

Meanwhile, the burdens were increased. How strange this must have seemed to the Hebrews. For years they had been treated with special favor and consideration. They seemed to be favorites in the land. But now everything was different. They had been made slaves, and committed to hard labor, and even their very existence as a people was threatened by the edict that all their male children should be destroyed. For them, for the time, the providences of the Lord were dark and obscure.

Exodus 2:23-25

MEANWHILE, and without the Israelites realizing the significance of these events, God was raising up Moses as a servant who would be especially qualified to secure their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The very edict of the kingdom which threatened the life of all their male children was the instrument which brought the child Moses right into the king’s palace to be reared and educated. Surely the Lord works in a mysterious way his wonders to perform!

Finally, the Pharaoh responsible for their hardships died. By now they were weighed down more than ever by their burdens, and they cried bitterly by reason of their bondage, and the Lord heard their groanings. The account says that then he “remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” We are not to suppose that God had for a time forgotten his covenant promises. The thought is, rather, that now the time had come for him to manifest to the Hebrews that he had not forgotten them.

It was because God had remembered his promises that he caused the Jews to be brought into Egypt, and provided so bountifully there for them under Joseph. Furthermore, it was his memory of the covenant that caused him now to overrule in their experiences to make them realize their need of him, and the great necessity for their leaving Egypt. It was his fidelity to his covenant that caused the Lord to overrule in the birth and life of Moses in order that the Israelites might have a competent leader when the time came for their deliverance.

Moses had sensed his responsibility even before the Lord called him for the great service he later was to render, and had tried his own method of deliverance, which failed. This was a very valuable lesson for Moses, and caused him later to remember that he was helpless to accomplish anything for his people except as he followed the Lord’s instructions and depended upon the Lord’s grace to help.

“God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them,” the account informs us. It was his respect for them, and his fidelity to the promises he had made to their fathers, which led to their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. Joseph first entered Egypt as a slave. Now the whole nation was in slavery, but deliverance was at hand.

QUESTIONS

What was the total number of Israelites who moved from Canaan to Egypt during the time of Joseph?

What circumstances led to the nation being reduced to slavery?

Does God ever fail to remember his promises? How do we know that he had not forgotten his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

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